1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information recording/reproducing apparatus for recording information data on a recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
As a type of optical recording medium which allows writing of information data thereon, attention is drawn to such recording discs as WORM (Write Once Read Many)-type CD (Compact Disc)-R, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-R, a rewritable DVD-RW, or the like.
In an information recording apparatus, for example the following processes are executed when writing information data to the recording disc.
First, a recording signal having a level change according to the information data is formed, and supplied to a writing laser diode. The writing laser diode generates a laser beam having a light power according to the level of the recording signal and irradiates the generated laser beam on the recording surface of the recording disc. As a result of the irradiation, the reflectance of an area irradiated by the laser beam is reduced as compared with that of an area where the laser beam is not irradiated. The area of the reduced reflectance becomes a recording pit indicative of the information data.
However, a variation in shape of the recording pits occurs, which variation is formed by the irradiation of the laser beam in dependence on differences in structure, material, and the like of the recording disc.
According to the standard of the CD-R as a WORM-type recording disc, i.e., what is called Orange Book, it is specified that the CD-R is classified into six kinds of disc types (hereinafter, referred to as a common disc type) based on a combination with a media type (types A to C) and a xcex2 category (high, low) as shown in FIG. 1 and used in common by manufacturers.
For example, at a manufacturer of the CD-R, information data is at first recorded to the CD-R, that is manufactured by the devices owned by the manufacturer, by using a standard recording apparatus which can record information to any of the six kinds of CD-R, and discrimination is made, based on a result of the recording, as to which one of the six kinds of common disc types the CD-R belongs. The manufacturer of the CD-R then records the common disc type (media type=xcex2 category) obtained by the discrimination result to the CD-R and ships the CD-Rs on which the common disc type is recorded.
On the side of a recording apparatus for recording the information data to the shipped CD-R, waveform parameters (xcex94PD, xcex94PH, xe2x8ax96T) based on the first recording standard as a strategy for generating the optimum recording signal as shown in FIG. 1 are set in correspondence to each of the six kinds of common disc types. According to the first recording standard, a 3T-EFM (Eight to Fourteen Modulation) modulation signal as shown, for example, in the part (a) of FIG. 2 indicative of an information data signal is converted into a recording signal having a waveform as shown in the part (b) of FIG. 2. As shown in the part (b) of FIG. 2, the recording signal waveform first rises or increases with a delay of time xe2x8ax96T from a leading edge of the EFM modulation signal. A recording power which is higher than a recording power PW by xcex94PH is maintained for a period of time of xcex94PD and, after that, is held to a level of the recording power PW until a trailing edge of the EFM modulation signal. That is, on the recording apparatus side, the common disc type is read out from the loaded CD-R, a recording signal having a waveform according to the recording standard corresponding to the common disc type is generated, and the laser diode for writing is driven, thereby providing a formation of a recording pit having a preferable shape.
That is, according to the Orange Book, the manufacturing source is promoted so as to manufacture the CD-R corresponding to one of the six kinds of common disc types.
In the case of some of the manufacturing companies of the CD-R, however, although the manufactured CD-R is allowed to correspond to the six kinds of common disc types, there is a case that some companies manufacture CD-Rs for which the common disc type is not always suited best.
The invention is made to solve the above problem and it is an object of the invention to provide an information recording/reproducing apparatus and an information recording method which can form a recording pit having a more preferable shape.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an information recording/reproducing apparatus for recording information to a recording disc by irradiating a recording beam light to the recording disc according to a recording signal indicative of information data, comprising: memory means in which common disc type information to be recorded in the recording disc and a first recording standard showing waveform parameters at the time when the recording signal is generated have been stored in correspondence to each other and predetermined information to be recorded in the recording disc and a second recording standard showing waveform parameters at the time when the recording signal is generated have been stored in correspondence to each other; means for reading out the common disc type information and the predetermined information from the recording disc, respectively; and recording signal generating means for selecting one of the first recording standard and the second recording standard on the basis of the common disc type information and the predetermined information, reading out the selected standard from the memory means, and generating the recording signal on the basis of the read-out recording standard.
According to another preferred aspect of the invention, there is provided an information recording method of recording information to a recording disc by irradiating a recording beam light according to a recording signal indicative of information data to the recording disc, comprising the steps of: storing common disc type information to be recorded in the recording disc and a first recording standard showing waveform parameters at the time when the recording signal is generated into memory means in correspondence to each other and further storing predetermined information to be recorded in the recording disc and a second recording standard showing waveform parameters at the time when the recording signal is generated into the memory means in correspondence to each other, respectively; and selecting one of the first recording standard and the second recording standard on the basis of the common disc type information read out from the recording disc and the predetermined information, reading out the selected standard from the memory means, and generating the recording signal on the basis of the read-out recording standard.